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The dress code at George Abbot School is extremely oppressive; it teaches our sixth form and lower school students, especially but not exclusively female, that their appearance is more important than their education. Per the school policy, if a sixth form student was to wear a strapped vest top with straps under 2 inches wide, even in the unbearably hot weather of last weekend, where temperatures reached over 30 degrees C, they would be denied access from the majority of school spaces and asked to cover up, or go home and change. This has happened to multiple girls within my friendship group in school locations such as USIC, the sixth form library, where our students go to work hard and study. Our interpretation of these dress code rules at GA is that it teaches young girls that male students and teachers around them have more of a right to education than they do, as it states in the dress code rules that the reason for this rule is to “stop students and teachers (mainly alluding to males) feeling uncomfortable”. Where this may be correct in cases of extremely inappropriate low cut shirts, we can’t seem to understand how a high necked vest top is possibly going to distract anyone. If this is the case, maybe those students that are heavily distracted by a girl’s shoulders should be the ones under fire, not us students trying to study hard in the boiling heat.

The students in our school are losing precious class time to go home to change and come back feeling humiliated, knowing that their school’s governing body believes their peers have more of right to an education than they do, just based on their choice of clothing. A female’s wardrobe is not harming anyone; there is no reason to highly regulate their clothing in the name of “discipline”. Staff argue that they are enforcing the dress code to prepare students for the “real world” workplace. They argue that in an office space, adults are expected to dress in a certain manner, but this has changed. Maybe 50 years ago, when they were first starting their careers, they were told of the need to cover up to be professional, but nowadays employers and businesses are more accepting of self-expression. If our teachers are preparing us for our future, why are their rules stuck in the past?

Getting rid of this dress code rule could make GA more progressive, welcoming school in which all students would truly be treated with the same respect. Please sign this petition if you agree that these uniform rules are outdated, sexist, and simply irresponsible in such high temperatures.